East of Piccadilly

Very enjoyable and entertaining film starring Sebastian Shaw and Judy Campbell, two delightful actors who died of old age and worked until the very end.

The plot, concerning the strangling of a hooker, is incidental to the snappy dialogue and assorted nut jobs.

My only problem was an unusual one for me - they talked so darn fast I missed some dialogue. By the way, when you show a screwball comedy to high schoolers, they don't understand one word.

Campbell and Shaw have great chemistry as they endeavor to find the killer. She plays a reporter after a big scoop, covering a flower show by reading the catalog. Even after someone is arrested, the pair is not convinced and set up the villain.

It's wartime - it's not directly mentioned except for some lovely dialogue at the end. The lights indeed did go back on.

If I have my time line right, when John Maxwell died in 1940, his widow sold a chunk of shares in British International Pictures to Warner Brothers. Since BIP owned British Pathe for distribution and more than 500 theaters of their own, they had an integrated company. However, during the Second World War, the British government took over the studio at Elstree, production was limited to programmers and B pictures at the Wellwyn Studio; American distribution was handled by PRC. After the War, A production was resumed and a distribution deal cut with Warners in the US.

That might explain the gloss on this movie. Judy Campbell is a crime reporter, being courted by crime novelist Sebastian Shaw. She is investigating a serial Killer, "The Strangler", and it takes her about half the picture to solve the mystery, with only occasional rescuing by Mr. Shaw. Although it lacks the snappy patter and dumb coppers, it reminds me of Warners' Torchy Blaine series with Glenda Farrell. Miss Shaw is a competent woman and, despite the surprise ending that pops up for no clear reason except to fill the movie out to 75 minutes, this is an appealing piece of work.

Miss Shaw would continue with such work. In 1948, she would write the script and star in a BBC version of Jane Austen's EMMA. She would continue to play formidable women in prestige TV through the remainder of career, with a turn in THE FORSYTHE SAGA in 2002.